Muscat bourse ends year with strong gains

Business Sunday 31/December/2017 16:55 PM
By: Times News Service
Muscat bourse ends year with strong gains

Muscat: Oman’s benchmark MSM30 Index ended the year at 5,099.28 points with strong gains of 1.03 per cent. The MSM Sharia Index closed at 713.64 points, up 0.33 per cent. Bank Dhofar was the most active in terms of volume as well as turnover. With a gain of 6.73 per cent, Bank Dhofar was the top gainer while Construction Materials was the top loser, down 7.41 per cent.
A total number of 788 trades were executed on Sunday, generating a turnover of OMR2.72 million with 15.84 million shares changing hands. Out of 57 traded securities, 24 advanced, 11 declined, and 22 remained unchanged. At the session close, Omani Investors were net buyers for OMR631,000 while GCC & Arab Investors were net sellers for OMR557,000 followed by Foreign Investors for OMR74,000 worth of shares.
Financial Index advanced 0.77 per cent to finish at 7,474.16 points. Bank Dhofar, United Finance, Al Izz Bank, Muscat Finance and Oman & Emirates Holding increased 6.73 per cent, 3.57 per cent, 3.13 per cent, 1.85 per cent and 1.23 per cent. Al Madina Takaful and Al Anwar Holding declined 1.00 per cent, and 0.68 per cent respectively.
Industrial Index ended at 6,833.39 points, up 0.22 per cent. A’Saffa Foods, Oman Flour Mills, Al Maha Ceramics, National Aluminium and Al Jazeera Steel gained 2.86 per cent, 2.63 per cent, 2.46 per cent, 1.83 per cent and 1.82 per cent respectively. Construction Materials, Oman Cables, Gulf International Chemicals and Oman Fisheries decreased 7.41 per cent, 2.99 per cent, 2.02 per cent and 0.68 per cent respectively.
Services Index had sharp gains of 1.16 per cent to close at 2,643.43 points. Oman National Engineering, National Gas, Sembcorp Salalah, Phoenix Power and Renaissance Services gained 3.63 per cent, 3.26 per cent, 2.68 per cent, 2.22 per cent and 2.06 per cent respectively. Al Jazeera Services, Oman Oil Marketing, Port Services and Majan College lost 2.10 per cent, 0.68 per cent, 0.56 per cent and 0.45 per cent respectively.